It should be fine to use OEM shocks as long as there still good. But after 20 years thats highly doubtful(unless your OEM shocks were replaced with newer OEM shocks?). Besides most after market springs out there are stiffer then stock and if I remember correctly you want a shock thats valved accordingly to the springs springrate. Meaning a stiff spring used on a stock shock wouldn't be all that good for racing? I don't know. Go ahead and do it if your not too concerned with handling and just want to lower your ride. I'd personally get bilsteins or koni's matched with a linear rate spring like racing beat or may be something stiffer like RSR's.

 

^makes sense. I took a look at my shocks and I am glad I did they are on their last leg.

 

I don't have much experience with other systems but I will say that I thought the ground control setup I had on a previous car was a great choice. It was a daily driver so ride quality was somewhat of a concern and I thought the setup delivered quite nicely.

The advantage to their setup is you can get a good quality shock (I ran Koni Yellows) and you can choose from pretty much any linear spring rate (Eibach springs as mentioned before). The price is slightly more than the coilovers you mentioned I believe, but I'd expect (having never used the Megans) that the quality is a bit higher with the ground control setup compared to the lower end coilovers.

I liked it well enough on my earlier car that I will be ordering a similar setup (Koni Yellows with Eibach springs) for my RX-7. I have already decided on spring rates and lengths, but obviously I don't know how it will be until I get it installed.

As Ted mentioned I understand that the fronts require the reuse of the factory shock housing with Konis. Koni has directions on their website for how to do this. It may be something to consider, but I have heard that it isn't too complicated to do.

 

if they are koni yellows ... and the springs are guaranteed to be within a certain spec of each other ( i know eibach and GC are) then id go with the koni setup if you dont mind not having height adjust, and camber adjust. if they are reds and the springs arent badass springs id take the megans hands down

ive known many guys personally who have drifted on megans, and NONE of them have broken them in any way .... and im talking dirt dropping at VIR at 60-70 MPH enough to bend a rear lca at a 45 deg angle (on a 240)

granted you may not be drifting, you arent going to break them

 

I think you should do your own research and decide for yourself. This is the most informative page on shocks/springs I have ever read, I suggest reading it, and even every section on the site. Pertains specifically to autocross, but applies to street driving and possibly even some road racing, I'm not sure exactly what your intentions for your car are, but that is an important factor to decide.

http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets6.html

 

Just buy stance's or power'd by max coils. If you want to roll the dice and dont give a goddamn what anyone else thinks, buy megans or ksports....... One of my ricer mags had an fc making 600 something hp with an 13brew and had d2 coilovers on his. NZ local i believe.

You're not out that much money. $1200 aint ****. Save, save and save some more.

Full adjustability is going to have you tickle pink. You're just going to want coilovers sooner or later anyway. Seriously.

I ran a spring/shock combo on my dsm and personally, i liked it at first but later as i started drive it more, i wanted more adjustability.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

No problem. I like his statement "people who are fast in spite of their setups, not because of their setups." I think that this a common occurrence, a placebo effect that happens when people "upgrade" anything on their vehicle without relying on empirical evidence that it truly is helping. Where's TitaniumTT when you need him? ha.

 

^
He has a style of writing that makes his book informative as well as funny and interesting to read.

 

FYI, TTT runs Stance's, even though I've been trying to convince him to go with
Ground Control Coilover Springs and either revalved Bilstein or Koni shocks. The latter option costs more, especially the Koni's.

 

The ground control setup does have ride height adjustability. Ground control also sells camber/caster plates which allow you to adjust camber and caster as well.

 

Megan racing makes **** products period. Do a search.